Brentford were tipped for relegation. Now they are aiming for Europe

<p>They lost their manager, captain, goalkeeper and two top scorers last summer but are challenging the elite</p><p>By <a href="https://www.whoscored.com/">WhoScored</a></p><p>Seventh place, just a few points behind Liverpool and Chelsea with nine games to play – not bad for a side that was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/aug/05/premier-league-2025-26-preview-no-4-brentford">condemned to relegation in many pre-season predictions</a>. Brentford have not just defied the naysayers; they are on the brink of creating club history too. European qualification beckons for the first time in their 137-year history and, with 44 points after 29 games, Keith Andrews’ side are on course to beat their previous record of 55 in a top-flight season. Brentford are challenging clubs with wage bills four times larger than their own.</p><p>It is easy to forget just how remarkable an achievement this is for a side once mocked as “a bus stop in Hounslow” by their local rivals. They lost four of their best and most experienced players last summer, with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/jul/10/arsenal-complete-9m-christian-norgaard-signing-and-step-up-eberechi-eze-chase">Christian Nørgaard joining Arsenal</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/sep/01/newcastle-agree-55m-deal-to-sign-yoane-wissa-from-brentford">Yoane Wissa signing for Newcastle</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/jul/21/club-of-my-dreams-bryan-mbeumo-seals-71m-manchester-united-move">Bryan Mbeumo leaving for Manchester United</a> and Mark Flekken moving to Bayer Leverkusen for a combined £146m. They were all essential to Brentford last season: Nørgaard was the club captain; Wissa and Mbeumo scored 39 league goals between them (59% of the team’s total), and Flekken made 133 saves – 25 more than any other k